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I D. HUNTER. APPARATUS FOR CLEANING THE SIDES AND B'OTTOMS OP SHIPS. No. 318,904. v Patenteilviay 26, 1885.

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Di-XVID HUNTER, OF TROON, COUNTY OF AYE, ASSIGNOB OF EIGHTEEN- TVVE-NTIETHS TO ALEXANDER DONALDSON SPIER AND AROHIBALD SCOTT BROXVN, BOTH OF GLASGOWV, SCOTLAND.

APPARATUS FOR CLEANENG THE SIDES AND BOTTOMS OF SHIPS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 318,904, dated May 26, 1885.

Application filed July 1, 1884. (No model.) Patented in England September ll, 1883, No. 4,340, extended to the Island of St. Helena;

To (525 whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, DAVID I'IUNTER, acitizen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, residing at Troon, in the county of Ayr, Scotland, have invented new and useful Improvements in Apparatus for Cleaning or Scrubbing the Sides and Bottoms of Ships Afloat, (for which I have obtained Letters Patent of Great Britain dated September 11, 1883, and numbered 4,340, which Letters Patent were extended to the Island of St. Helena on the 8th day of May,1884, in accordance with the provisions of Ordinance No. 3 of 1872 and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, which will enable others skilled in the manufacture or art to which it relates to make and use the same.

This invention has for its object improvements in apparatus for cleaning, scrubbing, or removing from the sides and bottoms of ships or vessels while afloat, and either in motion or at anchor, incrustations or objectionable marine, animaf, or vegetable matters.

The said invention relates to that class of such apparatus which is moved over the skin of the ship or vessel in an approximately vertical direction or through an are from the keel toward the dcck,and vice versa; and the apparatus as constructed under this invention consists of a jointed or articulated frame can rying a brush, scrubber, or scraper, which is provided with means for holding or forcing it when in operation against the surface to be cleaned or scraped, and for enabling it to override bilge-pieces or other projections on the hull.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a front elevation of the apparatus constituting the invention. Fig. 2 is an elevation of the end thereof marked A, Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is an elevation of the end marked B, Fig. 1. Fig. 4: is a plan of the cleaning or scrubbing brush as drawnion Figs. 1, 2, and 3. Figs. 5 and 6 illustrate alternative modes of constructing the brush. Fig. 7 shows the mode of operating the apparatus.

As seen at Figs. 1, 2, and 3, the apparatus constituting the invention consists of an open frame composed of top and bottom members,

a, connected together at or near their ends by vertical tie-rods b, which pass through slots made in the parts a, and have holes or eyes made at their upper projecting ends to which lines 0 c are secured. The parts a are made fiaton their upper and under sides to afford a surface on which the water-currents act, as hereinafter set forth, and they are attached to the ties b by pins d, on which they are capable of moving through a vertical are on the system of parallel rulers.

Between the two ties I), and preferably midway from the ends of the members a, the said members are further tied together by a bar or bars, 6, the ends of the said bar or bars passing into or through slots in the parts a, and the connecting-pins f thereof act as centers for the movement of the top and bottom members of the frame. A brush, flat, curved, or of any other suitable shape, is rigidly secured to the mid bar or bars, 6; but, as seen on the drawings, it has no connection with the end ties, Z). inclined plane, 71, is made or connected, the narrow end of the angle being at the forward end of the brush. The inclined plane may be rigidly secured to the back of the brush by a stay or stays, t, as seen more particularly at Fig. 4, in which case its angle of inclination is permanent; or the said angle of inclination, in order to adaptitself to the speed of the ship or vessel or to the speed or strength of varying currents, may be adjusted automatically, such adjustment being effected by placing a coil-spring between the back of the brush and the inclined plane, as seen at j, Fig. 5. plate or other equivalent spring may be substituted forthe said coilspring, suitable stops being in any case provided to prevent the angle of inclination from becoming either too great or too little, the proper inclination being such as will at all times be sufficient to hold the brush in such frictional contact with the hull of the ship as to cause it in operation to remove the incrustations therefrom, while at 9 the same time it should not be so great as to render the vertical working of the brush difficult or impossible.

Between the narrow or forward end of the inclined plane 71v and the stay i, spring 7, or

On the backof the said brush an lCO the adjustment of the plane h, in lieu of being automatic, is effected bya screw, 7;, and nut Z, a key being applied to the screw when it is desired to alter the angle; or the said adj ustment may be effected in any other convenient manner, it being understood that I do not confine myself to the modes hereinbefore set forth. At its forward end the brush g has a line, 112, attached to it, which line is passed through a block on the martingale, as seen at n, Fig. 7, or on other part of the ship in front of the apparatus, and thence to the deck, and the lines o c, from the end ties, 7), also pass to the deck.

The operation of cleaning the hull of the ship or vessel is as follows: After the apparatus has been passed into the water, it is caused to sink by pulling the line 0 attached to the rear end tie, b, of the frame and slacking the line 0, attached to the front end tie, which causes the frame to incline upward from its forward toward its rearward end. The forward movement of the ship causes the water to act on the said inclined plane constituted by the members a, and carry the frame, and with it the brush, downward, the rear line, 0, which is meantime kept only sufliciently taut to hold the frame in proper position, being paid out as the apparatus sinks. while so descending, the brush is made to press against the ships side, also by the forward motion of the ship, causing the water to act on the inclined plane 71, by which means a scrubbing effect is produced over an are on the hull, the radius of which are is greater or less, according to the distance of the brush from the block through which the head-line m passes. \Vhen the brush has been carried down to the keel, the inclination of the frame is reversed by slacking the line 0 and pulling the line 0, whereby the apparatus is caused to ascend, and the water still acting on the inclined plane 71- and pressing the brush against the ships side an upward cleaning action is produced either on the same or on a new surface of the hull, the head-line at being from time to time paid out or drawn in, accordingly as the work is being effected from the bow toward the stern, or vice versa. Then one side of the ship has been cleaned, the lines 0 o are connected to the other end of the ties bthat is to say, the apparatus is turned upside down and then passed over the other side of the ship and similarly operated.

To enable the brush to override bilge-pieces or other projections on the ships hull, it is provided with rollers 0, whose axes are supported in bearings on and are parallel to the length of the body of the brush, and the said rollers also act to crush, loosen, and remove barnacles or other matters during the action of the apparatus.

' The'apparatus, besides being used in cleaning or scrubbing the hulls of ships or vessels when in motion, may also be employed to remove incrustations when the ship or vessel is at anchor in tidal or other water-ways, where there is enough current to cause the brush to press against the hull with sufficient force by acting on the inclined plane h.

The apparatus may also be usefully em- 'closet, bilge, and other pipes, which frequently become choked, and being under water are otherwise difficult to free without docking the ship.

Although I have shown a brush as used in the improved apparatus, it is to be understood that a scrubber or scrubbers, or a scraper or scrapers, may be substituted therefor when desired.

I'am aware that devices similar to the one herein described for cleaning the sides and bottoms of vessels afloat have been provided with a number of small anti-friction wheels for enabling them to move easily overthe surface to be cleansed, and also that in lieu of such small wheels convexed rollers have been employed; but such are not the equivalents of my invention.

I am further aware that in similar devices, where it was thought desirable to employ a rotary brush, a drum has been employed for imparting such rotation to the brushes, said drum deriving its rotation from contact with the ships side. In this device, however, the drum is provided at close intervals with rubber rings, which are placed parallel to each other and to the ends of the drum, whereby the friction is said to be increased and the rotation rendered more positive. N one of these devices are capable of producing the result produced by the continuous parallel-faced rollers employed in my device, nor were they ever intended to by their respective inventors.

Having fully described my invention, what I desire to claim and secure by Letters Patent is- 1. In a device, substantially as herein do ing the barnaeles so that they may be easily removed by the brush, as described.

3. -In a device for cleansing the sides and bottoms of ships afloat, the combination, with a frame, a brush, and means for moving it over the surface to be cleansed, of a roller having continuous parallel surfaces jonrnalcd in said frame, and carried thereby in advance of the brush, as and for the purpose set forth.

L. In apparatus for cleaning the sides and bottoms of ships afloat, a brush or cleaner having a fixed inclined plane on the back of it, and strips of leather, canvas, or equivalent material extending from it to the body of the cleaner, substantially as described. 

